Which is the Cheaper?
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Comparative Costs for Petroland Oil-engined Versions of a • i5-cwt. Van are in Favour of the Oiler
6g HAT are the comparative operating costs of a 15-cwt van with either petrol or oil engine?" asks a reader. Dealing first with the petrol-engined version, the unladen weight would be around 1 ton 7 cwt., with a resulting annual licence duty of 120, the equivalent of 8s. a week on a basis of a 50-week year. Although, admittedly, adult drivers' may not always be employed on this type of vehicle it will be assumed that this applies here. Confirmation of 'a wage inerease is expected in the near future but for now the current rate laid down in R.H.68, Grade 1 areas, will be used. With appropriate allowances for holidays with pay, and National Health, and employers' voluntary liability insurance contributions, the cost of wages will amount to £9 4s. 3d. Rent and rates in respect of garaging the van will be reckoned to cost 7s. 8d. a week. The annual insurance premium for comprehensive cover in intermediate-risk areas, as applied to ancillary use, would cost around £20, or 8s, per
week. With an average initial cost of £505, and interest charged at a nominal rate of 3 per cent., this item would add 6s. Id, a week, making the "total for these five items of standing costs £10. 14s. a week. Assuming a 44-hour week, the standing cost per hour would be 4s. IOld.
Stop-and-start Work Where supplies were purchased in bulk at 3s. 10d, a gallon, and an average rate of fuel consumption of 22 m.p.g, was maintained, the fuel costs per mile for this petrol-engined version would be 2.05d. This, however, would he on the assumption that a weekly mileage of 400 was averaged. At lower mileages it could be expected that more stop-and-start work was involved, with an increase in the rate of fuel consumPtion. At 200 miles a week, it will be reckoned that the• cost per mile is increased to 2.26d. and at 100 Miles a week to 2.46d.
Lubricants are reckoned to cost 0.18d. per, mile. With a set of tyres costing £45 and an expected life of 25,000 miles a set, tyre costs per mile will amount to 0.43d. Maintenance is assessed at 1.01d, a mile, where the average is 400 miles a week. As some of the tasks included in the overall term of " Maintenance " are washing and servicing (which are generally performed on a time basis) the maintenance cost per mile will increase as the average weekly mileage becomes lower. Thus, at 200 miles a week, the maintenance cost per mile is calculated at 1.45d. and 1.80d. at 100 miles per week.
In order to obtain the balance to be written-off to calculate depreciation, it is first necessary to deduct the cost of the original set of tyres from the initial price of the vehicle, and some allowance for residual value must also be -made, it will be reckoned that this balance amounts to £405 and, assuming a vehicle life of 75,000 miles, the depreciation cost per mile would be 1.29d.
Here again, however, some adjustment has to be made to this cost if mileage is exceptionally low. This particularly applies to vehicles often employed on retail delivery, where a smart appearance is a real, if intangible, asset to the user. When mileage is exceptionally low, It may Well be that the vehicle has to be replaced on the grounds of obsolescence rather than mechanical fitness for the job it has to do. At 200 miles a week, therefore, the depreciation cost per mile will be adjusted to 1.42d., and to 1.55d. at 100 miles a week.
Totalling these five items of running costs, the cost per mile at 100 miles a week would be 6.42d., reducing to 5.74d. at 200 miles a week, and 4.96d. at 400 miles a week. The addition of these to the standing costs giVes a total operating cost per mile of 32.10d. at 100 miles a week, I8.58d. at 200 miles a week, and 11.38d. at 400 miles a week. •
The oil-engined version of this 15-cwt, van can be expected to be a little heavier, but as it WoUld be in the Same licensing category at I tan 9 cwt., the annual and weekly "duty would remainthe same at £20 and Sc. respectively. Wages will remain at £9 4s; 3d. a week, as will the cost of garaging at 7s. 8d. a week. Despite the increase in cost, insurance premium remains the same at 120 a year because, in the scale of charges used in this example, excess premium in respect of value does not operate below £1,000,
Interest, however, is slightly higher at 7s. 6d. a week, based on an initial outlay of £630. This gives a total standing cost per week of £10 15s. 5d., or. the equivalent of 4s. '10id. per hour. • • • • .
Although varying claims are made for the economy of oilengined vehicles, an improvement of 50 per. cent, ' will be allowed here. With oil fuel purchased in bulk at 3s. 104d. per gallon, and a: rate of consumption of33 m.p.g., fuel costs would amount to 1.41d. per mile. In 'contrast to the petrolengined version, however, operators' 'experienee. shows that it is not necessary to Make allowance 'for an increase in the rate of consumption where there • is a. high proportionof
stop-and-start . work. .
Lubricants are reckoned to cost 0.20d. per mile, whilst tyres remain the same at 043d. Maintenance for the oil-engined vehicle can be expected to be -reduced compared with the petrol-engined version, and will be reckoned at 0.84d. per mile when 400 Miles a 'week are averaged. As before, however, Maintenance costs will increase to 1.20d per mile at 200 milei
a week and 1.70d. per mile at 100 miles-a Week. •
Adopting the Same procedure as previously,. but this time based on an initialprice of k630, -depreciation cost. Per mile will now he 1164d. It is being assumed here that the vehicle mileage life, Whilst in the pOsses-sion of the first operator, will remain at 75,000. In other circumstances, where the appearance of the van is not of prime importance, operators would obtain a lower depreciation cost per mile because of the longer life which could be expected from the oil-engitied version, .Corresponding adjustments as were made to the depreciation costs of the petrol-engined van, would result in a cost per mile at 200 miles a week of 1.80d., and 1.97d. at 100 miles a week. Total running costs per mile for the oil-engined van would therefore be 5.71.d., 5.04d. and 4.52d., at, respectively, 100, 200 and 400 miles a week. Total 'operating .costs per mile would be 31.564., 17.97d: and 10.98d.—again at-100, 200 and
. . _ . . 400 miles a week—showing a saving it each instance in favour of the oil-engined van.
AN ancillary user asks by what statutory power a Licensing Authority can demand completion and return of Form ZF.22A, giving details of body dimensions, among other items.
He adds that he can understand a Licensing Authority requiring sufficient information to be able to identify a vehicle, including such items as the registration number. make and year of manufacture and chassis model. But he sees no reason why body dimensions should be requested unless it is solely for the purpose of passing on to other Government departments, presumably for use in an emergency. In that event the only reiult of submitting such information would be the loss of an operator's vehicles, even though they may be engaged on an essential service.
Form ZF.22A is not, in fact; a prescribed form. The purpose of the form, which is completed by operators voluntarily at the request of Licensing Authorities, • is to provide certain supplementary records for statistical use and to assist in the organization of road transport, as this reader suggests, in the event of an emergency.. In practice, the Authorities do not experience difficulty in securing completion of this form by holders of A, B and C licences. In the event of an emergency, adequate additional statutory powers would, in any .case, be , presumably enacted to permit the take-over by the -Government of whatever vehicles they required so that the completion„ or non-completion, of Form ZF.22A • would not avoid this eventuality.
THE difference in calculating hours of work between a five' and six-day worker under the Road Haulage Wages Regulations, is a question by a driver. Assuming the driver, is a regular worker to whom the guaranteed weekly remuneration provisions apply, a five-day worker who works on any day other than Saturday or Sunday is deemed to have worked for nine hours on any day Monday to Thursday and for eight hours on Friday, even though he was employed for less than nine or eight hours respectively. A six-day worker, however, who works on any day other than Sunday is deemed to have worked for eight -hours on any day Monday to Friday and for four hours on Saturday, even • though he may have • been anployed for less than eight and four hours respectively on those days.
. Special provisions apply to milk workers, who are regarded as having worked for 7 hours 20 minutes, even though they
may have worked-less than that period on any day. S.B.